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World's Obama fever cools

The latest TV images from abroad are far more ominous than those from 2008. | Reuters, AP Photo

“I would,” he said. “And the reason is this: that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of [the Bush] administration — is ridiculous.”

Advisers cultivated the sense that Obama, because of his unusual parentage, his international upbringing and his status as America’s first black president, would help bend the will of foreign nations.

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“If must say if I were an Iranian leader, I would not know exactly how to deal with a Barack Obama,” Obama adviser Greg Craig said at a forum during the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. “That would be somebody that would be hard to demonize. He’d be hard to put in a box for the Iranian people. …. In that comparative advantage, we come out in good shape to engage that negotiation or discussion.”

But Obama’s global appeal actually carried a downside as well as an upside.

“He has improved the U.S. standing in much of the world, but his own personal popularity and biography has been both a blessing and a curse,” said James Lindsay of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Everyone looked up to him and expected him to transform American foreign policy and solve issues that have festered for years and decades — problems that may not actually be fixable.”

The face-to-face talks with leaders of rogue nations that Obama said he’d be open to have never come to pass. He did make new overtures to Iran and try to revive talks with North Korea. There have been no big breakthroughs in those discussions, but Obama aides say their diplomatic efforts with Iran were crucial to building international support for much tougher sanctions.

“That was partly, but not entirely, due to the fact that Obama cut a very different course in the world than George W. Bush,” said Lindsay, who worked on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. “The fact that Obama was seen as the new sheriff in town, bringing a new tone and attitude to American foreign policy, has made it easier for us to act on a couple of fronts.”

The peak of Obama fever globally may have come in October 2009, when the president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based almost entirely on the hope he inspired, rather than on any particular achievement. Even Obama said he felt the accolade was undeserved.

“They said Obama’s celebrity status would get us better results. How many Guantanamo prisoners were placed in Europe? A handful,” said Peter Feaver, a Duke political science professor who served as a National Security Council aide under Bush and Clinton. “All it really delivered was a Nobel Prize.”

Obama does have significant achievements in America’s dealings overseas. He ordered a U.S. military operation that killed Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. An intense campaign of drone strikes has wiped out many leaders of anti-American terrorist groups in South Asia and Africa. And, perhaps of greatest interest to American voters, he withdrew U.S. troops from the unpopular war in Iraq.

Obama aides note that opposition to the Iraq War was the animating force behind at least the early stages of Obama’s first campaign for president and is likely of far greater consequence to American voters than the standing of the U.S. in foreign opinion polls or diplomatic circles.

“Any look at our foreign policy promises and record that omits progress against Al Qaeda and ending the war in Iraq is sorely lacking,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

Ambassor Chris Stevens and three other Americans should be alive today........

The FACT is the Obama Administration via Hillary's State Department failed to protect him on the most important day of the year September 11th..............9/11

The man had hardly any security at the US Consulate in a country that is currently lawless, Libya..........its just unbelievable.

And this Incompetent Administration has been making every excuse in the book on the exact details of what happened. Susan Rice was on five Sunday talk programs and said it was not organzied and it was street protesters protesting that video, again. Meanwhile virtually every American with a brain can see that it was Planned and Ambassor Chris Stevens had virtually no security........on 9/11 of all days.

Chris Stevens and the others should be with their families today..................but their not and the finger points directly to the Obama Administration.........and the Buck Stops with Obama himself.

Let's end this long National Nighmare on Tuesday night November 6th, 2012

Romney and Ryan..............................a "wicked smart" team that can and will fix America for everyone....

Duh Politico. You just noticed now???? A poll in July showed the US popularity is down across the middle east (10-15% approval under Obama compared to 30-40% approval under Bush). I do remember story after story on how Bush policies and "Bush wars" hurt our image world-wide and only NOW have you guys noticed how little respect the US garners overseas under Obama.

When the administration came out with the lame statements saying the attack in Lybia was a protest gone wild over a movie even as the President of Lybia said it was a terrorist attackRomney for speaking "too soon" and ignoring the fact Obama was AWOL. When he took off for Vegas the next day while the Ambassador's body was still warm did the MSM say it was insensitive. When the administration withdrew the statement Romney objected to the media ignored that fact. While the media spent years telling us GITMO incited terrorist they ignore the year long Democrat chant "WE KILLED BIN LADEN" as inciteful. The media overseas didn't. Our media was too busy spinning to help Obama to notice.

Just last Sunday Rice was running around saying it was not an act of terrorism and yesterday the WH says it is self-evident it was a terrorist attack. This administration is clueless and even though the MSM here hasn't noticed but the rest of the world sure has and respect for the US has eroded.

The best two words for Barry Soetoro as well as RobMe is "NO Confidence"

Just like no WMD's, No yellow-cake uranium and No zero zilch.

Why say more? Why don't You just use that 1964 and 1/2 Mustang 'kure' that Karen Hughes sopke to. The one where everybody would be happy with the "freedom".

Get a new Marketing campaign global deviser perhaps. Let them drain assets telling You how to 'dupe 'em. They've tell You the "HOT BUTTONS".. They'll run a focus groug deleting any individualism and make it 'Group think'.

They'll show You the way to dupe, to lie, to cheat, to steal, to glorify evil.

Romney is better than the communist Obama. You might like Obama (his personality) but that is not important. What is important is that the United States under Obama is being destroyed. If Obama is reelected, he will redistribute your money (those who are working). And give your money to those who are not working. Is that fair? You (those who have jobs) work hard to earn your money, and comes the communist Obama, takes your money and gives it to those who have not earned that money!! Forget it, we work hard for our money and do not want to give it to those who are not working. If they want to buy things, they must start looking for jobs. Vote for Mitt Romney. He will create jobs; Obama will not. Just check the unemployment report (high unemployment). If Mitt Romney does not produce results (good ones), then he is done. We will have to elect another person to send to the White House. But we cannot and must not give 4 more years to the failure and communist Obama.

Obama seems so out of touch with what's going on ................just campaigns for himself.

Hasn't had a Press conference since June and will only appear on "soft" shows like Letterman where he didn't even know what the US debt was when he took office.......

In other "soft" interview he didn't know if Egypt was an Ally or an Enemy..........lol His own State Department had to come out a few hours later and say that Egypt was an Ally. Folks you can't make this stuff up.

And he hasn't had a debate in only four years. Mitt Romney has had two dozen in the last 15 months and won them all but one, the one ABC hosted in South Carolina.....

Mitt Rob-me couldn't even go over to ENGLAND for 48 hours before he was scraping and bowing and kissing the hind quarters of fellow conservative and leader of that country Gordon Cameron. Rob-me insulted Cameron because he said they (London) couldn't run their Olympics...Cameron told Mittenz to go take a leap off a short pier. Instead, and told him HE (Rob-Me) ran a small Winger Olympics out in the middle of NOWHERE (OUCH)! Of course, Mittens had to get down and then crawl on his knees and tell Cameron he was "SOWWY," then he had to attach his lips to Cameron's hind pieces...in other words, kiss Cameron's A**. Talk about apologizer....

BY the way, I guess Europe isn't in love with Mittens Rob-me:

According to new international polling data, the majority of Europeans would like to see Barack Obama voted in for a second term. Meanwhile, his Republican opponent Mitt Romney is still a virtual unknown across the pond.

Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that according to a new poll conducted by Transatlantic Trends - commissioned by the German Marshall Fund - 82% of Europeans have a favorable opinion of President Obama. Although, his foreign policy approval rate in Europe has dropped by 12 points - from 83% to 71% - since his inauguration in 2009.

Somewhat worryingly, 38% of those surveyed weren't even sure who Romney was, with a further 39% having an unfavorable view of the Republican nominee.

Unknown to many in Europe, the French-speaking Romney (see below) has the continent on his CV, after spending 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary as a young man.

The poll shows that if Europeans could vote in November's election, 75% would vote for Obama while only 8% would vote for Romney.

Politico reported that Constanze Stelzenmüller, the survey's project leader, said: “On Romney himself, I think a lot of Europeans have the same kinds of questions and reservations a lot of Americans have [...] If you want to put it under one header, it’s a question about his authenticity, what does this man really stand for?”

The Guardian also reported yesterday that YouGov published similar international polling figures on Tuesday about the US election campaigns. In the UK, Germany and France only 3%, 4% and 5% respectively said that their views toward the USA would be more favorable if Romney were president.

After a disastrous summer visit, where Romney criticized London's Olympics preparations, 47% of British people said their opinion of the USA would be less favorable if Romney was voted in as the next president. Across the Channel, the affair prompted the French center-right daily Le Figaro to run with the headline: "Is Mitt Romney a Loser?"

However, the prospect of Romney in the White House was greeted more favorably in North Africa, the Middle East, and especially in Pakistan, where 13% of those surveyed would have a more favorable opinion of the US under a Romney presidency.

Pakistan has recently criticized the Obama administration over the continuing drone attacks in the country against Taliban insurgents, which have also led to civilian casualties.

"Ambassor Chris Stevens and three other Americans should be alive today........" 4,469 US service persons should be alive today, and they would be if your boy George W. Bush hadn't have engaged the USA in 2 budget-busting wars of choice.

President Obama represents high public spending, record deficits, $6 trillion in net new indebtedness during his term, and a record of having significantly worsened the federal government's nonviable $200 trillion+ long term unfunded liabilities position. He is presentable, and talks nice, but he is a very poor leader. The world doesn't swoon over him because it has figured out that what he offers is style, pretty speeches and spin instead of leadership that promotes economic growth. People who understand that private markets matter most when it comes to promoting economic growth, have figured out that it is not likely that Obama will change during 2013-2017, and that the U.S. and the world will continue to suffer for it as a consequence.

No one is asking the MSM how it is they are so out of step with fellow Americans and the world for that matter. The media is only noticing now? They sit around wondering where all their viewers and readers have gone. They just buried the story that NOW the Obama administration states it was self evident the attack was terrorism after a week of saying it was a movie protest gone wild.

CNBC Poll: 75% Agree With Romney's 47% Comments

U.S. Even More Unpopular in Middle East Under Obama Than Under Bush Zogby Poll July 2012

It may well be true that President Obama doesn’t make as many in the world swoon as he once did, but he still makes many swoon. Since his election, our reputation has greatly recovered from the worldwide reputational Great Depression Bush/Cheney and the warmongering neocons had sunk US into. Starting a war against Iraq on false pretenses, killing over 100,000 Iraqi citizens, arrogant and disrespectful talk to and about our European allies and an overall bullying attitude toward our brothers and sisters around the world ha dirtied and stained our reputation around the world. No one was or is able to magically wipe it clean without regaining the trust of others and that takes time. That takes countless actions of goodwill that our Secretary of State and many other Americans have been ardently performing tirelessly. Despite what brash, bellicose Republicans may say, President Obama and his superlative State team have the right idea: we meet the world in goodwill and we stand for the dignity of all human beings and their right to choose their own government. We stand for liberty and democracy and the spread of them, but we have rightly rejected the warmongering imperialism and offensive arrogance of the last Republican administration and may we never return to it, as no-apology-I’m-perfect Romney hints at wishing to do.

If you are a Republican, don't **** off Peggy Noonan. Not only will she compare you unfavorably to Ronald Reagan (did you know Noonan used to work for Reagan?) she might use her column to brutally bludgeon you day after day.

In Noonah's Sept 18 WSJ column she called the Romney campaign "incompetent" and called for an intervention. This column got a lot of play, but it was on a day with a lot of conservative writers were piling on. Here was the crux on Noonan's column,

It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one. It’s not big, it’s not brave, it’s not thoughtfully tackling great issues. It’s always been too small for the moment. All the activists, party supporters and big donors should be pushing for change. People want to focus on who at the top is least constructive and most responsible. Fine, but Mitt Romney is no puppet: He chooses who to listen to. An intervention is in order. “Mitt, this isn’t working.”

Noonan didn't pull any punches and proceeded to outline Romney's incompetence item by item for the benefit of anyone who might not have been paying attention. Some might of thought this was just some tough love, but it now appears that Noonan has no love for Romney.

In her Friday column, Noonan comes back for a second pound of flesh, evidently out of fear that her earlier column was too subtle.

It is true that a good debate, especially a good first one, can invigorate a candidate and lead to increased confidence, which can prompt good decisions and sensible statements. There is more than a month between the first debate and the voting: That's enough time for a healthy spiral to begin.

But: The Romney campaign has to get turned around. This week I called it incompetent, but only because I was being polite. I really meant "rolling calamity." A lot of people weighed in, in I suppose expected ways: "Glad you said this," "Mad you said this." But, some surprises. No one that I know of defended the campaign or argued "you're missing some of its quiet excellence."

I've followed, supported and volunteered (at very low levels) for my share of losing campaigns, and I've done the same for some winning campaigns. I'm 3 for 7.

When a campaign is winning, everything seems to go their way and the gaffe's melt away if they are ever actually noticed. Winning begets winning. If things start breaking your way, you can even stand in front of a large crowd in St Charles MO with all the media present and out of pure ignorance and stupidity yell into a microphone that the fools you are running against are so dumb they think Social Security is a Federal program and no one will even notice. And if the other side dares to mention the remark and suggest that it might call into question the candidate, everyone will rush to brush it off as just a minor misstatement.

The same in true for losing too. When a campaign gets the Loser stink, it seems that nothing can turn the tide. The press notices every little thing, and one dumb comment begets a second, and a third and then suddenly the campaign falls into a panic and a seeming bright and articulate candidate with a heretofore promising political career starts to look like a buffoon. The losing snowballs and then not even a debate performance that would have shamed Socrates is enough to get everyone to stop smirking at the candidate.

Where is the MSM story on how Obama believes in redistribution of wealth and the poll showing how many Americans disagrees with him.

Oh wait they are too busy telling us how out of touch Romney is. Well at least out of touch with the liberal Obama cheerleaders posing as journalists.

Congradulations to Univision for the FIRST traditional Presidential interview. You remember them, where reporters asked tough questions, followed by tougher follow up questions, speaking truth to power instead of the fawning nonsense, previewed questions and approved quotes we have been getting from the MSM and their buddies in the Obama administration.

In order for the media to get this right, they would have to admit there was really no such thing as an Arab Spring for democracy.

When the original premise is incorrect, you cannot expect the commentaries to be accurate.

When the orginal situations are based on a lie, politicians and the media try to continue it, having to make their lies more and more palatable.

If the media doesn't start following this with full coverage and honesty, very quickly, this administration and the media will indeed have us in a situation we cannot survive.

The 30 countries protesting America is practically ignored now. It is a mistake, a very big mistake.

We are indeed in danger, and it appears the administration and the media does not think it serious. Perhaps that's why our ambassador and others died, because they didn't think what was going on was "serious".